“On this auspicious snowy day, we have gathered here to announce the oracle that has been given us for a long time and to welcome the Saintess.”
The voice of the High Priest Teln was heard throughout the square through the amplified relics.
Before Teln could announce who the Saintess was, Doris made her move first.
Doris, dressed in white, slowly walked up the stage and stood in the center.
Teln's eyes shook quickly and he glanced at Adrienne next to him.
Adrienne looked at him unwaveringly.
Teln, whose lips were parched, tried to ignore Doris, who was smiling brightly at him and stepped aside for a moment.
From where Doris had appeared, a priest with red hair appeared and came up to the stage with other priests carrying something.
It was something like a huge box covered with a white cloth.
“What is that?”
“Is it a holy relic?”
As the crowd's murmur grew louder, Doris's eyebrows, which had been smiling compassionately, twisted.
It was an unplanned sequence.
“Yes, what are you doing now? Have you prepared a gift for me?”
Before Doris could add anything, Teln reacted violently to the 'something' the priests had brought up.
Adrienne, who was standing next to him as an assistant, whispered quietly in his ear.
“Yes.”
“...”
Teln was certain that the object wrapped in white silk that Ephero had just brought in was the body of Grand Duchess Adrienne.
Will this woman's prophecy really come true? Or will he be caught up in another fraud?
He swallowed hard and looked down at the podium.
Canula, who was mixed in with the crowd, looked at Teln with her eyes sparkling.
Teln's legs began to tremble.
'Do you really have to say such a thing in front of so many people?'
Of course, he saw the miracle of Count Acacia being alive. But what if he had also manipulated his death from the beginning?
“...If you can’t speak of an oracle, at least say a prayer for the poor Grand Duchess.”
Teln opened his mouth and sweat poured down his face at Adrienne's windy whisper.
“Yes!”
Doris' low cry, sensing a strange aura, became the signal.
Teln couldn't stand Canula's gaze and took away the white cloth.
“What is that?”
“It looks like the corpse of a royal family member?”
There was the body of a woman lying beautifully asleep in a glass case, tilted so that people could see.
'Why on earth is this here...?'
Doris had heard rumors that the mad Grand Duke Noevian Trovica loved his wife so much that he exhumed her body and kept it.
Adrienne's corpse, beautiful and alive, was of no interest to Doris, even if it had been in a rotten state.
So, the corpse that she hadn't even seen was right in front of her.
When the reactions of the people on the stage became unusual, blood rushed to Doris' head for a moment.
Doris' gaze naturally turned to Rhodnes.
The posture of Rhodnes, who had been sitting crookedly, was straightened.
His once relaxed face became stiff and she could see him giving some orders to Neil who was standing next to him.
'Isn't this just a cute prank by Rhodnes?'
“Yes, what is this?”
Doris, who had changed her target, whispered while chewing on her teeth.
Teln raised his voice, trying hard not to notice Doris' gaze glaring at him.
“Before we begin the meal, I would like to offer a prayer for Her Highness the Grand Duchess of Trovica, who died young and whose grave was dug up by her husband’s greed, and who could not find peace.”
“Yes, what the heck is this...!”
"Your Highness."
Doris, who was trying to ignore what I said and pulling on Teln's clothes, looked up at the white hand that was stopping her.
“Your Highness, you must not interrupt.”
“!”
And then, for a moment, Doris's head went blank as if she had been hit in the back of the head.
The damn Blie Acacia was right there, alive and well, right in front of me!
As the prayer for the dead Grand Duchess began to be heard at the behest of the High Priest, the people gathered in the square began to join their hands together.
Doris, who was suddenly pushed out of the line, had to grit her teeth and suppress her anger while the sound of prayers rang in her ears.
The wind blew into her ears and tore through her whole body and mind.
“I have received your gift, Your Highness. It smells very good.”
Doris was really annoyed by the woman's voice whispering like the wind in between the prayers.
'Noura Giuseppe, have I ever seen such a stupid woman!'
It was clear that those stupid women and maids were not carrying out her orders properly!
That shallow, oblivious Blie Acacia must have seduced the blonde Rhodnes!
And in this place, Doris becomes the main character.
In this place where she will become the wife of Lord Rhodnes.
It was clear that Blie was trying to make a spectacle of Adrienne's body by pretending to take care of her and score points with Rhodnes!
Doris, conscious of her surroundings, forced the corners of her lips up and opened her trembling lips.
There was no need to wear a mask to that shallow bitch anymore.
“Even if you give me the gift of a graceful death, it still crawls back and turns my stomach inside out...”
"...Your Highness?"
Doris's lips twisted further at the slightly embarrassed woman's voice.
“Pretending not to care about Rhodnes with an innocent face. Pretending to love the Grand Duke... Now that the Grand Duke is locked up in the Tower of Rubel, you are openly following the Grand Duchess and seducing Rhodnes? Wearing the clothes of a priest on your lowly body. What a sight. I always knew you would get in my way.”
Doris, who had hidden behind Teln, affectionately grabbed the arm of the woman who was disturbing her.
Contrary to the outward appearance of affectionate hands, the sharp tips of the nails slowly dug into the delicate flesh.
A poisonous voice flowed out ceaselessly from the lips that were raised again, conscious of the gaze of those around them.
“Stupid girl. Adrienne’s ghost is useless now. Rhodnes can’t be the Emperor or even the Crown Prince without me. We’re going to be a couple of destiny.”
Doris' eyes, which looked back and forth between the corpse and the woman, glowed eerily.
“I will illuminate Rhodnes, who is darkness itself, with the bright light of a Saintess. In a way that a shallow woman like you can never help.”
The strength slowly drained from the tips of Doris' fingernails that had been digging into her flesh.
“Anyway, if it weren’t for Bardenaldo or me, you would have been nothing. Someone like you, who isn’t even a noble, has enjoyed the excessive wealth and honor for so long.”
Doris let go of the wrist she was holding.
"I know..."
Doris, who had been adjusting her disheveled clothes for a moment, gradually regained her composure and raised the corners of her lips.
“When I was trying to kill you nicely, you should have died.”
As the prayer for the damned Adrienne Piretta ended, Doris leisurely slid into the center of the stage.
Now it was her turn to be the main character.
Teln's gaze shifted from the back of the proud Doris to the glass coffin of Grand Duchess Adrienne.
'This can't be happening.'
How much longer has it been than 100 days since the Grand Duchess died?
Even though it's winter, can someone be this dead and asleep?
The corpse, far from being rotten, was beautiful and fresh as if she had just fallen asleep.
“Did you hear what that woman said to me, Your Eminence?”
Adrienne's voice passed by like the wind.
Canula Winster's gaze, glaring as if to stab him.
“You decide whether to make that woman a Saintess and disgrace the face of the Lord. Or to make the true will of the Lord known to the world.”
Teln, who had clenched his fists to the point of sweating, turned his head to the top seat at the sudden feeling of another gaze.
Empress Grace, who was always frightened and had a gloomy look on her face, was looking at him with her hands folded earnestly.
It was the exact same scene as when Grace, who had been beating her chest and weeping every time a Prince died, looked at the statue of the Lord and prayed with her hands clasped together.
Teln was at a critical juncture in his life.
A new sun is shining brightly on Ronta... It was such a political statement that he found it difficult to bear.
'At least the oracle that Grand Duchess Adrienne will survive...'
The image of Count Acacia, who he thought was dead, walking around alive and well flashed through his mind.
The noble lady, who had nothing to regret, stood behind him disguised as a priestess, her face strangely confident.
And then there was the persistent gaze of his god-like wife, Canula Winster, who had been responsible for his poor childhood.
Teln's Adam's apple quivered loudly when he saw Empress Grace, who looked up to him as if she were a God who would save him.
When the voice she had been hoping for did not come out from Teln, Doris, who had been holding back, took another step forward herself.
“From now on, as a Saintess, I will pray for His Highness the Crown Prince Bardenaldo of Ronta, the Saint who has passed away....”
"For a moment."
Teln, who had made up his mind, stopped Doris and came forward to the stage.
“There is an oracle... again.”
He opened his closed eyes and opened his mouth quietly.
“The dead Grand Duchess. Adrienne Trovica will wake up soon.”
At Teln's trembling voice, Doris' face, which had been confident of victory, turned red with shock.
Teln's trembling eyes turned to Adrienne, who was wearing her hood pulled down low.
Adrienne nodded with a grin.
Doris, who had stepped forward, turned her stiff head and looked at them.
Behind Doris, whose face had turned pale, the sound of tens of thousands of people gathered in the square surging like waves.
Adrienne led Teln to stand in front of the glass case where Blie lay.
Adrienne, who briefly locked eyes with Rossi, who was standing under the stage, placed her hand on the glass case.
She trained so hard for this day.
As she awakened the magical power quietly flowing within my body and sent it into the glass tube, I felt the stone underneath the glass tube absorbing it like a sponge absorbing water.
Teln followed Adrienne and placed his hand on the glass case, sweat dripping down his face.
At the sound of the glass tube opening, Teln's eyes grew wide.
Teln's eyes, which had been filled with anxiety, began to change color.
The sweat running down his trembling hands left marks on the surface of the glass.
And Teln and Adrienne looked at it clearly.
Blie's body moves, her fingers wiggling.
Teln's eyes, which had grown so large that they could no longer grow, captured the scene without missing a single moment.
Adrienne's lips opened quietly.
"I am..."
“You, You...”
“I told you it was God’s will.”
At the sound of Adrienne's softly whispering voice, Teln's body stopped shaking.
'The dead have risen!'
A light began to shine in Teln's eyes.
“The dead Grand Duchess, Adrienne Trovica, will awaken!”
He rolled his eyes as if he were possessed by a ghost and began to shout in a thunderous voice.
“Adrienne Trovica, a true Saintess blessed by God, will return from Abadelia with God’s will!!”
The voice of the High Priest Teln was heard throughout the square through the amplified relics.
Before Teln could announce who the Saintess was, Doris made her move first.
Doris, dressed in white, slowly walked up the stage and stood in the center.
Teln's eyes shook quickly and he glanced at Adrienne next to him.
Adrienne looked at him unwaveringly.
Teln, whose lips were parched, tried to ignore Doris, who was smiling brightly at him and stepped aside for a moment.
From where Doris had appeared, a priest with red hair appeared and came up to the stage with other priests carrying something.
It was something like a huge box covered with a white cloth.
“What is that?”
“Is it a holy relic?”
As the crowd's murmur grew louder, Doris's eyebrows, which had been smiling compassionately, twisted.
It was an unplanned sequence.
“Yes, what are you doing now? Have you prepared a gift for me?”
Before Doris could add anything, Teln reacted violently to the 'something' the priests had brought up.
Adrienne, who was standing next to him as an assistant, whispered quietly in his ear.
“Yes.”
“...”
Teln was certain that the object wrapped in white silk that Ephero had just brought in was the body of Grand Duchess Adrienne.
Will this woman's prophecy really come true? Or will he be caught up in another fraud?
He swallowed hard and looked down at the podium.
Canula, who was mixed in with the crowd, looked at Teln with her eyes sparkling.
Teln's legs began to tremble.
'Do you really have to say such a thing in front of so many people?'
Of course, he saw the miracle of Count Acacia being alive. But what if he had also manipulated his death from the beginning?
“...If you can’t speak of an oracle, at least say a prayer for the poor Grand Duchess.”
Teln opened his mouth and sweat poured down his face at Adrienne's windy whisper.
“Yes!”
Doris' low cry, sensing a strange aura, became the signal.
Teln couldn't stand Canula's gaze and took away the white cloth.
“What is that?”
“It looks like the corpse of a royal family member?”
There was the body of a woman lying beautifully asleep in a glass case, tilted so that people could see.
***
'Why on earth is this here...?'
Doris had heard rumors that the mad Grand Duke Noevian Trovica loved his wife so much that he exhumed her body and kept it.
Adrienne's corpse, beautiful and alive, was of no interest to Doris, even if it had been in a rotten state.
So, the corpse that she hadn't even seen was right in front of her.
When the reactions of the people on the stage became unusual, blood rushed to Doris' head for a moment.
Doris' gaze naturally turned to Rhodnes.
The posture of Rhodnes, who had been sitting crookedly, was straightened.
His once relaxed face became stiff and she could see him giving some orders to Neil who was standing next to him.
'Isn't this just a cute prank by Rhodnes?'
“Yes, what is this?”
Doris, who had changed her target, whispered while chewing on her teeth.
Teln raised his voice, trying hard not to notice Doris' gaze glaring at him.
“Before we begin the meal, I would like to offer a prayer for Her Highness the Grand Duchess of Trovica, who died young and whose grave was dug up by her husband’s greed, and who could not find peace.”
“Yes, what the heck is this...!”
"Your Highness."
Doris, who was trying to ignore what I said and pulling on Teln's clothes, looked up at the white hand that was stopping her.
“Your Highness, you must not interrupt.”
“!”
And then, for a moment, Doris's head went blank as if she had been hit in the back of the head.
The damn Blie Acacia was right there, alive and well, right in front of me!
As the prayer for the dead Grand Duchess began to be heard at the behest of the High Priest, the people gathered in the square began to join their hands together.
Doris, who was suddenly pushed out of the line, had to grit her teeth and suppress her anger while the sound of prayers rang in her ears.
The wind blew into her ears and tore through her whole body and mind.
“I have received your gift, Your Highness. It smells very good.”
Doris was really annoyed by the woman's voice whispering like the wind in between the prayers.
'Noura Giuseppe, have I ever seen such a stupid woman!'
It was clear that those stupid women and maids were not carrying out her orders properly!
That shallow, oblivious Blie Acacia must have seduced the blonde Rhodnes!
And in this place, Doris becomes the main character.
In this place where she will become the wife of Lord Rhodnes.
It was clear that Blie was trying to make a spectacle of Adrienne's body by pretending to take care of her and score points with Rhodnes!
Doris, conscious of her surroundings, forced the corners of her lips up and opened her trembling lips.
There was no need to wear a mask to that shallow bitch anymore.
“Even if you give me the gift of a graceful death, it still crawls back and turns my stomach inside out...”
"...Your Highness?"
Doris's lips twisted further at the slightly embarrassed woman's voice.
“Pretending not to care about Rhodnes with an innocent face. Pretending to love the Grand Duke... Now that the Grand Duke is locked up in the Tower of Rubel, you are openly following the Grand Duchess and seducing Rhodnes? Wearing the clothes of a priest on your lowly body. What a sight. I always knew you would get in my way.”
Doris, who had hidden behind Teln, affectionately grabbed the arm of the woman who was disturbing her.
Contrary to the outward appearance of affectionate hands, the sharp tips of the nails slowly dug into the delicate flesh.
A poisonous voice flowed out ceaselessly from the lips that were raised again, conscious of the gaze of those around them.
“Stupid girl. Adrienne’s ghost is useless now. Rhodnes can’t be the Emperor or even the Crown Prince without me. We’re going to be a couple of destiny.”
Doris' eyes, which looked back and forth between the corpse and the woman, glowed eerily.
“I will illuminate Rhodnes, who is darkness itself, with the bright light of a Saintess. In a way that a shallow woman like you can never help.”
The strength slowly drained from the tips of Doris' fingernails that had been digging into her flesh.
“Anyway, if it weren’t for Bardenaldo or me, you would have been nothing. Someone like you, who isn’t even a noble, has enjoyed the excessive wealth and honor for so long.”
Doris let go of the wrist she was holding.
"I know..."
Doris, who had been adjusting her disheveled clothes for a moment, gradually regained her composure and raised the corners of her lips.
“When I was trying to kill you nicely, you should have died.”
As the prayer for the damned Adrienne Piretta ended, Doris leisurely slid into the center of the stage.
Now it was her turn to be the main character.
***
Teln's gaze shifted from the back of the proud Doris to the glass coffin of Grand Duchess Adrienne.
'This can't be happening.'
How much longer has it been than 100 days since the Grand Duchess died?
Even though it's winter, can someone be this dead and asleep?
The corpse, far from being rotten, was beautiful and fresh as if she had just fallen asleep.
“Did you hear what that woman said to me, Your Eminence?”
Adrienne's voice passed by like the wind.
Canula Winster's gaze, glaring as if to stab him.
“You decide whether to make that woman a Saintess and disgrace the face of the Lord. Or to make the true will of the Lord known to the world.”
Teln, who had clenched his fists to the point of sweating, turned his head to the top seat at the sudden feeling of another gaze.
Empress Grace, who was always frightened and had a gloomy look on her face, was looking at him with her hands folded earnestly.
It was the exact same scene as when Grace, who had been beating her chest and weeping every time a Prince died, looked at the statue of the Lord and prayed with her hands clasped together.
Teln was at a critical juncture in his life.
A new sun is shining brightly on Ronta... It was such a political statement that he found it difficult to bear.
'At least the oracle that Grand Duchess Adrienne will survive...'
The image of Count Acacia, who he thought was dead, walking around alive and well flashed through his mind.
The noble lady, who had nothing to regret, stood behind him disguised as a priestess, her face strangely confident.
And then there was the persistent gaze of his god-like wife, Canula Winster, who had been responsible for his poor childhood.
Teln's Adam's apple quivered loudly when he saw Empress Grace, who looked up to him as if she were a God who would save him.
When the voice she had been hoping for did not come out from Teln, Doris, who had been holding back, took another step forward herself.
“From now on, as a Saintess, I will pray for His Highness the Crown Prince Bardenaldo of Ronta, the Saint who has passed away....”
"For a moment."
Teln, who had made up his mind, stopped Doris and came forward to the stage.
“There is an oracle... again.”
He opened his closed eyes and opened his mouth quietly.
“The dead Grand Duchess. Adrienne Trovica will wake up soon.”
At Teln's trembling voice, Doris' face, which had been confident of victory, turned red with shock.
***
Teln's trembling eyes turned to Adrienne, who was wearing her hood pulled down low.
Adrienne nodded with a grin.
Doris, who had stepped forward, turned her stiff head and looked at them.
Behind Doris, whose face had turned pale, the sound of tens of thousands of people gathered in the square surging like waves.
Adrienne led Teln to stand in front of the glass case where Blie lay.
Adrienne, who briefly locked eyes with Rossi, who was standing under the stage, placed her hand on the glass case.
She trained so hard for this day.
As she awakened the magical power quietly flowing within my body and sent it into the glass tube, I felt the stone underneath the glass tube absorbing it like a sponge absorbing water.
Teln followed Adrienne and placed his hand on the glass case, sweat dripping down his face.
At the sound of the glass tube opening, Teln's eyes grew wide.
Teln's eyes, which had been filled with anxiety, began to change color.
The sweat running down his trembling hands left marks on the surface of the glass.
And Teln and Adrienne looked at it clearly.
Blie's body moves, her fingers wiggling.
Teln's eyes, which had grown so large that they could no longer grow, captured the scene without missing a single moment.
Adrienne's lips opened quietly.
"I am..."
“You, You...”
“I told you it was God’s will.”
At the sound of Adrienne's softly whispering voice, Teln's body stopped shaking.
'The dead have risen!'
A light began to shine in Teln's eyes.
“The dead Grand Duchess, Adrienne Trovica, will awaken!”
He rolled his eyes as if he were possessed by a ghost and began to shout in a thunderous voice.
“Adrienne Trovica, a true Saintess blessed by God, will return from Abadelia with God’s will!!”
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